Standardized 100% single rooms in new hospital builds: a high-cost strategy with low use of showers

Audits of shower utilization in the medical wards of a 900-bed teaching hospital and mixed general wards of a 49-bed rural general hospital in the last year demonstrate that ≥62% inpatients did not take up the option of shower facilities for personal hygiene on any one day. The average daily non-use of showers was 86%.